Going to Maroc!

I’m leaving for my first sojourn in Africa tomorrow. I have to say, part of me is totally frightened. Which of course only adds to my general sense of awesome excitement! Here’s the agenda:

1) Arrive

2) Explore

3) Desert trip on camels

4) Return having experienced a new continent

Unfortunately I won’t be blogging until I get back I don’t think. But the next post on here will be full of a whole new adventure.

And then London a few days after.

P.S. I find I have difficulty spelling Morocco without spellcheck, so I’ve taken to using the French “Maroc.” It’s easier. Like many words and sentence structures I’ve slowly lost this year to French.

Update?

Not really. However, I won’t leave you all behind either.

Today I had 7 hours of class in French starting at 8am with a 1 hour break at noon. During which I did not eat because I had no money on me. Awkward.

Yesterday I ran around between 5 hours of class and my dinner family which while busy, was wonderful.

COMING SOON…

…A series on “The Fac” and the French education system. Pictures of a most interesting sort to be included.

Soldes Season

The Soldes are here. What, you ask, is a “solde?” Well. It’s a “sale.” And while sales are a near-constant feature of American life, not so much in France. Where like, nothing goes on sale. Hardly ever. The French seem to be into the “buy one, get one half-off” thing, but not so much “hey! this individual and usefully-sized unit is a lower price than it normally would be” thing.

ANYWAY, tons of stuff is half-off or more now. And like everything. It’s like black Friday, just for like, multiple weeks on end. So instead of insanity, you just get broke. Haha and you might think that’s a joke, but sales man. They’re dangerous.

To be honest, I’m probably not partaking of this strange shopping excursion because, to be quite frank, I have no money. Or maybe I should say extra money. Nope. Instead, I think I’ll just take a trip to, eh, Italy or Eastern Europe.

And the sarcasm stops for now.

T minus seven days to my next final. Let’s pray I’m ready.

Espresso

Surprisingly I have found that I actually missed espresso. Bejesus. Never thought I’d EVER say that. I guess life is just full of wonderful surprises. So far so good Europe. So far so good.

Just so’s ya know

I am back in the U.S. for a while, spending my time between family and friends. And being ever thankful that I have these wonderful people in my life. Coming soon are posts about the surprisingly small amount of strange things I’ve found here in the land of the free, the Lyon trip post I’ve promised for about a month now, and maybe an excerpt from the Diary of C.M. Pine. That is, if I can find that thing…

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and to those of you who don’t celebrate either of those things, peace and love be with you.

I’ve Got a Game for You

Who can tell me where this photo was taken?

Update on my Paris adventures to come tomorrow!

Barcelona

So, after waking up at 4am to come back to good ol’ Aix, I thought it would be a great idea to wake up at 5:15 the next morning in order to head out to Barcelona.

Street Performer! High caliber man. These guys are crazy.

Boy was I right! Haha it was really sweet. And just nice. I got to meet new people, make new friends and see one of the most beautiful, fun cities I’ve been to yet. And the market! Goodness. Let me put it this way: fresh fruit smoothies for a euro.

Sagrada Familia -By Gaudi. Really tight architecture. Man was a genius.

Inside the Cathedral of Barcelona, the most beautiful Cathedral I have ever been inside.

 

I also got to go to clubs, like real clubs, for the first time and that was a really neat experience. The first one had some really freaky demons on stilts walking around (honestly that just freaked me out) and the second one was REALLY cool. Three floors, each with their own music and just tons of people to dissappear into and dance with. My poor ears though!

Saturday was the eve of my birthday, but I didn’t feel like going out because I was honestly just exhausted. And I wasn’t invited, but I didn’t know that when I originally made the decision and that’s another story altogether!

BUT I ended up staying up until 3:30 anyway talking with a girl I met on the trip and another friend from my program. The three of us may have gone for McDonald’s ice cream at like 2/2:30 in the morning. It was glorious. Honestly, for as low-key as my birthday was, it was just really, really nice.

Painting on the wall at the Contemporary Art Museum in Barcelona.

And now! We’re all caught up. Back to my boring ol’ stories about Aix. haha just kidding. It’s about to get real interesting over here. Midterms. Why yes, I would like to take an hour-long test in French.

We’ll see how it goes.

Catch-Up Adventures: Day 2 Athens

THIS was a great day. We went to the Acropolis (Acropoli). Students in the EU get in free (that’s me!) so that was nice. The acropolis is really an interesting place because. Well. At first it just kinda looks like a bunch of rocks.

But as you get higher up the mountain/hill you start to see more intact things. A definable pillar, some carving, etc. Then you come across the Theatre of Dionysus and it’s like “hey! I actually know what that is!”

Of course, nothing on the way really compares to the top.

There’s the Parthenon, in all it’s mostly-destroyed glory.

And the fairly intact Temple of Athena (which I actually thought was cooler).

See what I mean? Although I guess the temple of Athena didn’t have a smashed horse head carving on it. But anyway, it was all really cool. Afterwords, we got some Greek Coffee, which is exactly like Turkish coffee, they just hate(d) the Turks after they invaded. And then there’s that whole Cyprus thing. Regardless, that coffee was GOOD. Love it.

We also went into the Acropolis Museum which I don’t really have photos of because they weren’t allowed, but all the same it was pretty cool. Definitely worth going to check out. All of it is. And the restaurants that way are actually pretty good. Especially for coffee. Just a great place to sit and watch people. Just make sure you go to a comfy chair café. That’s always the key I’m learning.

The Catch Up Adventures: Day 1 Athens

I am alive, well and full of stories I haven’t been able to tell due to a lack of internet! BUT you won’t get all of them at once! Oh no. Over the course of the next week, I’ll be posting a recap of everything from Greece to Spain. And I might also tell a small tale involving a lonely little apple.

My arrival into Athens might be said to be something of an adventure in and of itself, or at least, it was entertaining.

To start with, my flight was at 6:40am leaving from the Marseille airport (MRS if you wanted to know. I’ve now memorized it from all the flight research I’ve done over the past few months). This normally wouldn’t be any kind of issue. At home I’d just complain about getting up early and then I’d head off to the airport, Mom or Dad accompanying right up until (or even through) security.

Not this time. I have no car abroad, so my only option left was to either take the train or the bus to the Marseille airport. I decided the 4:50am bus would have to work because there wasn’t an earlier. That got me to the airport at 5:20. Awesome. I love cutting things close (I really don’t).

So I got up at 4:00, left the apartment by 4:15 and walked through the rain to the bus station by 4:30. And then waited. Alone. Huddled under a food stand. Words cannot express how happy I was to get on that lovely heated bus.

Anyway, I got to the airport and got checked in by 6 (and got to listen to a Croatian man and a woman from London talking). I only waited about 10 minutes before they called for boarding and I took a shuttle to the plane.

Once in Athens, I grabbed up my suitcase (checked the bottle of champagne I took with me. It was fine), and tried to figure out where to meet my best friend from Cairo! It was so exciting. I couldn’t help but smile when I found her. Picking someone up at the airport I feel like is always like, really exciting. It’s like Christmas except you don’t know if it’s going to happen or not.

Anywho, we adventured through Athens looking for our hotel and, after a kind security woman on a bike helped us, finally found the lovely Hotel Aristoteles. And then came the great exploration of the city which was interesting. I love being in cities that just have old stuff scattered throughout the city. And that is definitely what Athens is.

The Prequel

Things are winding down here in Athens with only really half a day left. But! Still don’t have good internet, so here’s a brief peak at what’s gone down:

1) The Acropolis (Akropoli) -Really cool. Lots of old foundations.

2) The Temple of Poseidon

3) Greek (Turkish) Coffee (it’s lovely).

4) Greek wine -Lot’s of greek wine

5) SO. MUCH. FOOD.